trade, that he might give himself up to the law undisturbed.[389]
His blessing was that he would conquer the seacoast
as far as Zidon.[390]

"Issachar," said Jacob, "will take upon himself the burden
of the study of the Torah, and all the other tribes will
come to him and ask him to decide their doubts on legal
questions, and his descendants will be the members of the
Sanhedrin and the scholars that will occupy themselves with
fixing the calendar." Jacob blessed Issachar also with
the blessing, that the fruits of his land should be exceedingly
large, and this brought a heavenly as well as an earthly
profit in its train, for when the heathen to whom the fruits
were sold marvelled thereat, the Jewish merchants explained
that their extraordinary size was due to the merits of the

 
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